In 2024, Inter Miami had the highest average player salary in Major League Soccer (MLS) at over *** million U.S. dollars per year. At the other end of the scale, the average player at CF Montreal earned just over ******* U.S. dollars per year. Major League Soccer is the highest division of professional soccer in the United States.

Lionel Messi was the highest-paid MLS player in 2025, earning over 20 million U.S. dollars per year. Toronto FC's Lorenzo Insigne ranked second, with a guaranteed annual income of over 15 million U.S. dollars.

In 2022, the minimum annual salary for senior MLS players was ** thousand U.S. dollars, while reserve players earned a minimum of ****** U.S. dollars. Lorenzo Insigne, the highest-paid player in the MLS, earned approximately ********** U.S. dollars a year.

With each player taking home a handsome 8.32 million U.S. dollars every year, the NBA is the professional sports league with the highest player wages worldwide. In second place is the Indian Premier League, an annual cricket competition contested each year between eight franchises representing eight different Indian cities.

Big money in the NBA Although the wages that players in the NBA take home are astronomical, the average annual salaries vary from one team to another. Whilst the New York Knicks pay their players an average of 7.08 million U.S. dollars a year, Portland Trail Blazers spent around 10.04 million U.S. dollars annually on each of their stars in 2019/20. NBA salaries have tremendously increased throughout the years reaching 8.32 million U.S. dollars in 2019/20 compared to 4.6 million U.S. dollars in 2015/16.